I stopped taking Gabapentine - oops! Seeking advice...
 

I stopped taking Gabapentine because I felt the burning pain was letting up. Only, NONE of my doctors warned me about stopping abruptly! Also, I wanted to take less at each dose (100 instead of 300), but my pills are 300 capsules and I can't divide them. The package slip does not say specifically to not stop taking them, it says the standard text to tell your doctor before stopping (which all my meds state). I only came about the withdrawal symptoms by looking on here or googling, since I know there are also cortisone withdrawal symptoms (I stopped cortisone about 1.5 weeks ago).

So with that said - asking experienced Gabapentine users, what do I do? Start popping the 300mg right away or now that it has been a couple days, just wait it out? How long would withdrawal symptoms last? I've read the symptoms are more psychotic like anxiety/nervousness/hallucinations (I have GAD anyway), but can there be physical symptoms like muscle pains/soreness?

Oooooh, yes, Gabapentin withdrawal is not much fun. I was taking it for something other than PN several years ago and decided to go off because it wasn't doing anything for me.

Just like anything else, you have to go as slow as possible. I was taking 400 mg capsules 4 times/day. I went down to 3/day for a week, then 2/day for a week, then 1/day for a week. It wasn't fun, but not too bad up to that point. But when I tried to cut out that last dose per day, I felt so wired up - shaky, couldn't concentrate, etc.

I'm not necessarily recommending this, but what I did was to carefully open the capsules, dump them on a creased sheet of paper, remove some of the powder, pour the rest back into the capsule, and put the capsule back together with the new lower dose.

It does take a steady hand, and I kind of felt like some kind of a drug dealer - but it allowed me to continue tapering the dosage down a little at a time.

I know others have done it by putting the powder into a glass of water or juice, etc. But I found that Gabapentin is extraordinarily bitter, and the taste is very hard to cover up.

Hope that helps - Slow and steady is the way to go. Best of luck

I honestly would not open capsules and guess on how much you are taking. The capsules (in some cases) are there to carry that medication to a certain part of your stomach before being released. Therefore, I'd take your regular dose, and call the doctor for a proper tapering schedule (with new Rx's for 100mg pills to make this process easier).

Have you considered that your pain is 'letting up' because you are taking the Gabapentin?? That is what the medicine is supposed to do, after all. You may go through this process only to find out that your medicine was working and you have to restart it to get your relief back.

I thought about breaking the capsules rather than sit for 2 hours in my neuros office just to get an updated RX which would give me the 100mg dosages. So instead of it all, I just stopped.

May I ask what kinds of symptoms you had when you stopped it, since you mentioned "it is not fun"? And how long did you have the withdrawal symptoms?

Yes, I thought that! That is why I thought that I could stop taking it. Then I started getting these full body aches/pains, and in my left arm, not the burning type pain, but more of a sore muscle ache feeling. That is when I thought "maybe these are withdrawal symptoms of cortisol or gabapentine..."

Too many things at once
 

If you keep a journal and decide to quit something, you can make an entry and guage your symptoms, pain,anxiety, etc. If you come off two things at once or don't allow sufficient time in between then confusion reigns. I stopped Gaba and titrated down for about two weeks. I had increased pain and thought that I had misjudged the Gaba. I stuck with the abandonment anyway and no longer take it. The increase in pain seemed to be short lived or I bacame used to it. Most here titrate down as some people have a bad time withdrawing some not so much. From the posts I remember, Cymbalta is rough. I had a sketchy 36 hrs when I quit Hydrocodone. You have to, often times,decide if the side effects are worth the relief you get. Good Luck, Ken in Texas.

I didn't really notice any withdrawal symptoms from gabapentin, other than the pain no longer being controlled 😏

My symptoms were more mental than physical. Anxiety, agitation, couldn't concentrate, couldn't sit still.......... Of course, everyone is different, so you might experience something completely different.

Yes, I read that pain or seizures would come back. The thing with my pain is that it's not the same type of pain that I had before starting the gaba....so I wondered about that. And I also read that besides the returning pain, the symptoms are more mental....but I have anxiety and panic disorder anyway so that's something I wouldn't be able to tell.

Thanks everyone for your feedback! I really appreciate this forum and all of you! :hug:

I just wanted to post that just this morning I had to carry my laptop bag on one shoulder and a bag of groceries on the other (I chose my left since it was lighter). Soon after, that ONE SINGLE area of deep burning pain that I had back before the gabapentine came back. Ouch! Unfortunately, I had a long walk, so I had to manage somehow. But guess what that means - back on Gaba this morning.